We all have at least one.
Foods that are just a bit too delicious.
Trigger foods.
You’re probably thinking of one right now.
You swear you could eat it every day. You could live off the stuff. You’d never get tired of it.
…Was yours peanut butter?
Peanut butter.
The king of trigger foods.
Grown men and women alike have confessed to me their ability to put away a jar of peanut butter as they were interning for Furious Pete.
Here are two tips to break the habit (or just make it more enjoyable – you decide).
#1. Frozen peanut butter.
a) Peanut butter is far too easy to shovel into your mouth and overeat.
Once frozen, the rock-hard peanut butter will force you to work a bit harder for it. Heaping scoops become fine shavings and small chunks.
This will slow you down long enough to help you taste the food and get a better idea of when you’ve had enough.
b) Frozen peanut butter has the added benefit of being the same texture as chocolate…
It tastes even better.
I know, I know.
“How is that even be possible?”
Just trust me now and thank me later.
*Keep in mind that it takes about two days for it to completely freeze.
c) It lasts longer. Natural peanut butter is already pretty resilient. But in the freezer, it would survive the zombie apocalypse. Our beloved peanut butter is safe.
#2. Take a peanut butter vacation.
Set a reasonable deadline. Something like 6-8 weeks usually works well.
The goal: commit to leaving the grocery store without any peanut butter for a set amount of time. If you have unfinished peanut butter in your house, finish it or throw it out.
By setting a deadline, you’re opening space in your diet for other foods.
What else might you begin to enjoy because you’re not eating peanut butter?
You might find that you don’t miss it all that much. And if not, well then you’ve proven that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Stick it in the freezer and get a room.
BONUS TIP: Peanut Butter Overload
Next time you go through a muscle gain phase, plan to make peanut butter one of your staple fat sources. With enough calories in your diet, even the most tempting of foods can often lose their appeal.
Peanut butter is no different, regardless of how (unfairly) delicious it becomes when dieting for fat loss.
Just remember, it’s not a matter of if it happens, but how much will it take to get there?
